Why did Bishop Bergoglio choose to be known as Pope Francis?
How did Jorge Bergoglio, later known as Pope Francis, address the needs of the poor? Did this concern reveal that he was leaning toward communism and liberation theology?
How did Father Bergoglio cope with the challenges of leading the Jesuit Order during the brutal and murderous military dictatorship ruling Argentina?
Was Pope Francis more concerned with dialogue than accomplishments during his pontificate? Was his dialogue actually his main accomplishment?
YouTube video for this blog: https://youtu.be/6QDyiu3wwbc
OVERVIEW OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Pope Francis dictated this autobiography, Life, My Story Through History, to the Italian Journalist Fabio Ragona. Many historians observe that often the electing cardinals select a pastoral pope to succeed an intellectual pope like Pope Benedict.
Indeed, immediately after he was nominated as pope, Jorge Bergoglio chose the name of Pope Francis. He patterned his papacy after Saint Francis, who famously lived a humble life serving the lepers and the poor. This humble pope was more Christ-like in the eyes of the poor than the scholarly and professorial Pope Benedict. He sought to include in the church’s family the dirt poor and homeless, and others whose ideologies were in stark contrast to his own. His theology revolves around loving your neighbor, particularly our poor and destitute neighbors.
Who Was the Author of the Prayer of St Francis? Sayings of Brother Giles
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/who-was-the-author-of-the-prayer-of-st-francis-sayings-of-brother-giles/
https://youtu.be/TJh72jknklE
Pope Francis often frustrated his contemporaries with his seemingly off-the-cuff comments on current moral issues. These were not the careful scholarly comments so often pronounced by his predecessor, Pope Benedict, but were comments that often tested the boundaries of current popular Catholic belief.
Were these comments often made in the aisle of the papal plane to journalists truly careless comments often immediately corrected by clarifications by the Vatican Curia, or were they calculated to compel dialogue? Perhaps it is telling that in this memoir of over two hundred pages, he only spends fifteen pages on his twelve-year pontificate. He remembers few accomplishments in these fifteen pages but rather describes his continuing vision for the church.
As pope, did Francis seek dialogue rather than accomplishments? There are indeed popes known for their accomplishments, such as when Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council, but this accomplishment led to dialogue that is still roiling the church sixty years later. How can a pope, or anyone, proclaim that everyone must follow their vision of moral truth?
One example showing how difficult it can be to convince others to change their moral beliefs is the US Supreme Court Brown v Board of Education opinion ending school segregation. The justices knew that it would be difficult to change the prejudices of millions of Americans when they declared that schools should be desegregated with “all deliberate speed.” Hannah Arendt, who wrote about the banality of evil when witnessing the Israeli trial of the bureaucrat Adolph Eichmann, who ran the Nazi death camps murdering millions of Jews, wrote an essay on the subsequent efforts to desegregate the Little Rock public school system. She thought that the effort was questionable, that you just cannot compel people to send their children to desegregated schools.
Hannah Arendt: Was School Desegregation Was Wise? Little Rock & Civil Rights v States’ Rights
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/hannah-arendt-questions-whether-school-desegregation-was-wise-little-rock-and-civil-rights/
https://youtu.be/nsqngH2gbNc
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, our future pope, was born in 1936, three years before Hitler invaded Poland, sparking World War II. Although he lived in Argentina most of his life, these far-away events deeply affected the faithful in all countries. This memoir weaves his personal life and clerical career with key events in American and European history so eagerly followed by peoples spanning the globe, and the dark days of the dirty war when the Argentine military dictators overthrew the government and disappeared many opponents and clerics. Many Americans are dimly aware of how events in our country are eagerly followed by foreigners in distant lands.
JORGE BERGOGLIO GROWS UP DURING WORLD WAR II
Jorge Bergoglio deeply treasured his personal contact with others, and loved children, choosing to begin his memoirs with:
“What a wonderful woman! I loved her so much. Grandma Rosa, my paternal grandmother, was a key figure in my growth and development. She lived no more than one hundred fifty feet from our home. I used to spend whole days with her. She played games with me and sang me songs from her childhood.”
Grandma Rosa was his godmother when he was baptized. Bergoglio continues: “She taught me to pray, and talked to me about that great personage I didn’t know yet: Jesus.” How fortunate he was to learn about Jesus from his loving grandmother.
Children suffer the most during wars. Poper Francis reflects: “War eats you up inside. You see it in the eyes of young children who no longer have any joy in their hearts, only terror and tears.” He remembers the enduring sadness of his Jewish neighbors whose grandparents were disappeared by the cruel Nazi regimes simply because of the Jewish blood flowing in their veins. Pope Francis says war is folly, the driving force of war is “ambition, the thirst for power, the greed that trigger conflicts.”
Other than occasional Nazi naval actions, Argentina was not directly affected by the great war waged mostly in Europe and Asia. The deprivations suffered before and during the war caused many to flee persecution to countries across the globe, and his family was well acquainted with both Jewish and Polish neighbors who worried about relatives and friends engulfed in the war and the persecutions overwhelming them.[1]
Jorge was nine when Japan surrendered, marking the end of the war. He remembers when the neighbor came over, shouting: “Señora Regina! The war is over!” “My mother was confused for a moment, then they both burst into tears. Liberating tears. Meanwhile, the daily newspaper La Prensa sounded its siren” to proclaim this joyful event.
But this joy was tempered by the revelations of the horrendous destruction of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Later, he met Father Arrupe, a Jesuit missionary in Hiroshima who miraculously survived the explosion. Most of the local doctors died in the explosion, but Father Arrupe had studied medicine. He opened a field hospital in the Jesuit novitiate. He was able to tend to wounds using a fifty-pound sack of boric acid donated by a local farmer.[2] Dr Wikipedia has a short account of his activities as a missionary in Japan.[3]
COMPARING PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS TO JIM CROW PREJUDICE
When he was a child, Jorge would often hear, “Hitler is a monster!” His father worked with many Jews at his dyeworks, and many of them had relatives in Europe, and some of them “had been taken away and never heard from again.”
During his lifetime, Pope Francis met many who suffered under the Nazis. One is Lidia Maksymowicz, whose partisan parents, though not Jewish themselves, openly sided with and assisted Jews. She was separated from her parents at the age of three, given a tattoo to identify her in the Auschwitz prison camp, where the evil Dr Mengele performed horrible medical experiments on her and other children.
Another child was the Hungarian Jew Edith Bruck. Poper Francis remembers her story: “At Dachau a Nazi cook asked her name and, seeing how young and defenseless she was, said, ‘I have a daughter like you.’ And he gave her a comb, even though her head had been shaved, which was a sign of hope in that ocean of death.” When Pope Francis heard her story, “he asked her forgiveness for everything that happened to the Jews.”
Pope Francis warns us: “These Jews are living memorials, a priceless treasure for us all. The extermination of millions of Jews must not be forgotten and must never be repeated. No more genocide, no more cruelty. The Shoah,” or Holocaust, “teaches us that maximum vigilance is required if we don’t want to arrive too late when the peace and dignity of human beings are under attack.”
We previously compared the banality of evil noticed by Hannah Arendt when she witnessed the trial of Adolph Eichmann, who administered the running of the death camps, to lynchings of tens of thousands of blacks during the Jim Crow era as recounted by Martin Luther King in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
Comparing MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail with Hannah Arendt’s Banality of Evil in Nazi Germany
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/comparing-martin-luther-kings-letter-from-the-birmingham-jail-with-hannah-arendts-the-banality-of-evil/
https://youtu.be/PqFAUEXbi8k
Ida B Wells, Journalist, Brave Woman, and Anti-Lynching Activist
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/ida-b-wells-journalist-brave-woman-and-anti-lynching-crusader/
https://youtu.be/sLDHs0AigvY
Pope Francis makes this same comparison. “Let us also think about people with dark skin. In the United States, for example, there are demonstrations over the deaths of black citizens, such as George Floyd.”
“Fortunately, there is always a collective reaction against social or racial injustice, against abuse of power, whenever human dignity is wounded. For this reason, I like to define nonviolent protestors as collective Good Samaritans, intervening to defend the dignity of human beings, all human beings.”
Pope Francis continues: “But let us remember that racism is a disease, a virus; the case of Hitler is a disease multiplied, because he eliminated not only Jews but also gypsies, disabled people, homosexuals, the elderly, even children with Down’s syndrome. He sent them all to their deaths, without pity.”
“We must defend the sanctity of human life. The name of God is profaned and defiled in the madness of hate.”[4]
Children separated from their parents
Immigrants to El Salvador
ORDINATION TO PRIESTHOOD, TROUBLES UNDER MILITARY DICTATORSHIP
As a young student, during confession, Jorge Bergoglio was shocked when he experienced meeting God, which led him first to answer the call to the priesthood, and shortly thereafter, to join the Jesuit order. After years of further study, he taught at several Jesuit colleges in Argentina.
History of the Jesuits From Ignatius Loyola Through Pope Francis, the First Jesuit Pope
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/history-of-the-jesuits/
https://youtu.be/16HRnyenOVc
During this time, he also contracted a nearly deadly case of pneumonia, surgeons were compelled to remove the upper lobe of his right lung to save his life. His health was compromised the rest of his life, he often suffered from bronchitis, particularly in his last years.
After the rise of the Cold War between the West and the communist bloc, Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many of un-American activities, accusing many artists, actors, journalists, writers, members of the Armed Forces, and government officials as suspected communists, ruining the career of many innocent people. In response, the Peronist government of Argentina distanced itself from American influence.[5]
When he was thirty-five, Jorge Bergoglio was appointed as the Provincial Superior, leader of the Jesuits in Argentina. Three years later, in 1976, the armed forces deposed the Peron government in the Videla Coup, suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament, declared martial law, and ruled through sheer terror. Suspected leftists, including priests who ministered to the poor, were abducted, tortured, and often disappeared, tossed out of helicopters far out over the ocean. This Dirty War lasted for nine long years. Tens of thousands of Argentinians died during this violence.
There is no question that Father Bergoglio defended his radical Jesuit priests during this trying time. But many critics argue he could have done more, and this may be true. After all, if he had done much more, he would likely not have survived. But if he had not survived, he could not defend his subordinates. These were difficult times for the church.
We must be gracious when judging the actions of well-meaning people in life-threatening situations in totalitarian regimes. When asked about whether he was brave during his years in the Auschwitz work camps, Viktor Frankl responded that the best people in the camp died in the camps, that the survivors were not the best of them, as survival in such circumstances always requires moral compromises.
Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning, His Life in a Nazi Concentration Camp in WWII
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/viktor-frankl-mans-search-for-meaning-his-life-in-a-nazi-concentration-camp-in-wwii/
https://youtu.be/O-YtC9qGWPI
Likewise, in the final scene in Steve Spielberg’s movie, Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler wailed how they could have saved so many more if they had just taken more chances. This is true to life in the respect that survivor’s guilt in such difficult circumstances is, to a certain extent, warranted.
Father Bergoglio did what he could to protect the bishop of La Rioja, Monsignor Angelelli. He recalled: “This sainted priest lived for the poor, and for the campesinos, or peasants, exploited by the owners of the largest estates, or latifundistas.” “He was accused of preaching a Marxist” left-wing “liberation theology.” “The dictatorship labeled as communist anyone who worked with the poor.” Before he was murdered, he asked Bergoglio to protect the seminary students who assisted him. He admitted them to his own school. Once he lent his identity papers to a priest fleeing the regime who had a passing resemblance to him, an action that risked both their lives.[6]
The tragedies Pope Francis remembers included the troubles befalling his communist friend Esther Ballestrino. How could a Catholic bishop maintain a close friendship with an avowed communist? The pronouncements of Vatican II teach us that the church should engage in dialogue with Protestants, Jews, and other religions, but also with the outside world. The Catholic Church set the terms for moral and philosophical debate for the ancient and medieval world, but after the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment, this was no longer true. Since the privileged classes in Latin America control more of their economies than does the United States, communist inspired ideology is more prevalent there.
Sixteen-year-old Jorge Bergoglio met Esther Ballestrino when she was his chemistry teacher. She was a communist activist defending the rights of rural women and workers. Although he did not agree with her ideology, they often discussed workers’ rights and Marxist thought, which influenced the liberation theology of the Latin American Catholic Church.
Pope Francis comments, “After my election as pope, some people claimed I spoke about the poor so often because I was a communist or Marxist myself.” “But talking about the poor doesn’t necessarily mean one is a communist: the poor are the flag of the Gospel and are in Jesus’ heart. Poverty has no ideology; the Church has none either, and shouldn’t.”[7]
After the Videla coup, Esther’s whole family suffered. He remembers: “In September 1976, the military seized her son-in-law, and then, the next year, they took her daughter Ana Maria, who was six months pregnant. The whole family was under surveillance.”
Bishop Bergoglio agreed to hide her suspect books in his college library in case the military searched her house. After her daughter was released from prison four months later, she sought refuge in Sweden with her two older daughters. The daughters stayed in Sweden while she returned to Argentina to continue the struggle.
After protesting with the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo seeking the fate of their disappeared children, Esther was seized, and then then tortured by the military police. She was martyred when she was thrown from a military plane into the deep dark ocean. Some of these corpses washed ashore, her remains were later identified through DNA testing.[8]
BERLIN WALL FALLS: ARE OUR POOR BEHIND WALLS?
In 1989, the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin fell. Under perestroika, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev refrained from violently clinging to the Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe. When a Soviet minister mistakenly announced in a press conference that citizens could now freely cross the border checkpoints separating East and West Berlin, the surprised border guards allowed thousands of East Germans to cross. In the following days, excited citizens started tearing down the concrete walls that split communist and free Berlin.
Pope Francis proclaims, “There are many walls across the world.” “Where there is a wall, there is a closed heart. Where there is a wall, there is the suffering of a brother and a sister who cannot cross it. Where there is a wall, there is division between peoples, and that is not good for the future of mankind. If we are divided, there is no friendship and solidarity. We must follow the example of Jesus, who unites everyone with his blood.”[9]
In Europe, there is also a wall between the prosperous Northern countries, including Germany, and the poor, more agricultural Southern countries, including Spain, Italy, and Greece, who are also challenged by migrants drifting in from North Africa. He remembers a speech by Pope John Paul II to the European Parliament in 1988: “Europeans need to accept one another despite their different cultural traditions and modes of thought, and furthermore need to welcome foreigners and refugees and open themselves up to the spiritual riches of people from other continents.”
Jorge Bergoglio was challenged when he was apparently demoted, without explanation, to serve as a simple pastor in Cordoba. He continued his work with the poor and spent more time contemplating the religious classics. After humbly serving there for two years, he was surprised when he was elevated to auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. A few years later he was appointed cardinal, which meant that he could vote for the next pope. He was elevated to Bishop of Buenos Aires when the current bishop passed away some time later.
Bishop Bergoglio encouraged his priests to go out and minister to the needs of the poor. He remembers, “These were among the best times of my life. Walking those dusty alleyways, I myself found the Lord, and He told me not to abandon those poor souls. I spent time listening to their stories, accepting their invitation into their dwelling for coffee and a chat, like old friends. Don’t think these were amusing stories, and that we had a good laugh: I wiped away many tears, because those people lived amid poverty, in homes of loose brick and feral dogs, with no drinking water.”
Bishop Bergoglio continues: “Criminals and drug traffickers are the true rulers of these disadvantaged areas; children, left to their own devices, are dragged into the drug trade from an early age. The presence of the Church was therefore crucial, and it remains necessary today, to carry out its work of prevention and guidance, particularly of the very young, toward a clean future far from such soul-corrupting evils.”
Bishop Bergoglio remembers: “During those wonderful years I touched hands that were rough and scarred, the hands of starving people who had not tasted food for days, hands that had stolen to feed their children, hands that sought help to change for the better. I caressed the faces of people young and old, abandoned at the roadside without hope, the faces of women robbed of their dignity, the faces of terrified fathers, the faces of mothers crushed by indifference, and the faces of children whose future had been stolen from them. And in all of them I always found the face of one Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.”[10]
In his Papal Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, On Fraternity and Social Friendship, Pope Francis teaches us that we should have compassionate immigration policies, that borders can shut out both immigrants and compassion. Was Pope Francis referring to the cruel immigration policies of the Trump administration, where many are quickly deported without due process of law, where not only are immigrant children separated from their parents, but cruelly few records were kept on who their parents were?
Pope Francis Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, On Fraternity and Social Friendship
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/pope-francis-encyclical-fratelli-tutti-on-fraternity-and-social-friendship/
https://youtu.be/WmT12-PFrt8
RESIGNATION OF POPE BENEDICT XVI
After Pope Benedict resigned, Bishop Bergoglio was elected by the cardinals as the next pope, choosing the name Pope Francis, after the champion of the poor, St Francis of Assisi. Pope Francis would be the first pope who did not personally experience the Second Vatican Council.
Pope Benedict’s sudden resignation surprised the bishops and cardinals, as well as the entire world. Although he was in poor health, he survived nearly a decade after his resignation. He resigned on February 28, 2013, which meant that the electing cardinals were immediately called to Rome, and they elected Bishop Bergoglio as pope on March 13, 2013. Easter that year fell on March 31, 2013. Why Benedict did not wait to resign until after Easter, which is a busy season for all clergy, especially bishops and cardinals, is puzzling. I have not found a good explanation for the rush. In his retirement, Benedict was careful to live a private life, though Pope Francis often sought his counsel and conferred and prayed with him.
Many people believe that Pope Benedict XVI was an acceptable traditional pope, while Pope Francis was a wild-eyed liberal pope betraying Catholic tradition. In fact, Pope Benedict and Bishop Bergoglio were well acquainted and both spearheaded the Aparecido church conference in Latin America.
Pope Francis references Aparecida’s message in his encyclical Gaudete et Exsultate, On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World: “Do not forget the poor.” “Today, we want to confirm and promote the Catholic preferential love for the poor. Concern for the poor is not optional.” Pope Francis also cautions that the Catholic faith should not be defined by opposition to abortion, that instead Catholicism should instead be defined by the general concern for social justice. Pope Francis also states that we should demonstrate our love for our neighbor in our social media postings.
Pope Francis Mentions Abortion in Gaudete et Exsultate, On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World, With a Prayer From Pope Benedict
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/pope-francis-mentions-abortion-in-gaudete-et-exsultate-with-a-prayer-from-pope-benedict/
https://youtu.be/jF-fsMvYsak
Latin American Catholicism has historically differed from European Catholicism because of its embrace of Liberation Theology, which has openly and controversially adopted communist ideals on the rights of the poor. Historically, both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict were suspicious of the tenets of Liberation Theology because of their European struggles against the totalitarian communist regimes of Eastern Europe. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict, in the encyclical issued by his Pontifical Biblical Commission, was wary of liberation theology, though he did not forbid its use.
Vatican Decree on Biblical Interpretation, Cardinal Ratzinger and the 1994 Pontifical Biblical Commission
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/interpretation-of-the-bible-in-the-church/
https://youtu.be/6jwUNScn_sM
Pope Francis comments that “Benedict’s position as pope emeritus has been exploited for ideological and political ends by unscrupulous people who have not accepted his resignation, people who may have prioritized their own interests and guarded their turf while underestimating the risk of a dramatic split within the Church.”
Enthusiasm for Bishop Bergoglio’s candidacy rose when he delivered a short intervention before the gathered cardinals, where he spoke of the need for evangelizing the world, repeating many of the themes of the Second Vatican Council:
- “Evangelizing implies apostolic zeal, a bold willingness in the Church to come out of herself.” She must address “the mystery of sin, pain, injustice, ignorance, and absence of faith, all forms of deprivation, of all forms of misery.”
- “When the Church does not come out of herself to evangelize, she becomes self-referential and then becomes sick.”
An analogy is that the Church must not be like the royalty who fills the moat of their castle with water and alligators, and draw up her drawbridge, isolating herself from the problems of the world.
Bishop Bergoglio continues: “In Revelation, Jesus says He is at the door and knocks. But sometimes I think Jesus is knocking from within for us to let Him out.” - “When the Church is self-referential, she inadvertently believes she has her own light,” she ceases to be the light of the world. She risks suffering the serious evil of spiritual worldliness described by Cardinal Henri Lubac, where she becomes a “worldly church that lives within herself, of herself, for herself,” not open to reform, not concerned with the “salvation of souls.”
- “The next pope should be a man who, through the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps the Church to come out of herself,” “who helps her to be the fruitful mother who gains life from the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing.”[11]
POPE FRANCIS’ VISION FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
This opening missive of Bishop Bergoglio during the electing papal enclave predicts that this evangelization will be his major accomplishment of his pontificate. Pope Francis did not dictate reforms that must be enacted, but rather he continually championed the cause of the poor and afflicted, gently persuading both the Church and the world that they must love their neighbor, that they must love their poorest neighbor, that they must love their most difficult neighbor, that they must love even their most unappreciative neighbor.
There are some who declare: “Francis is destroying the papacy.” Pope Francis notes: “There are always some who wish to put the brakes on reform, who want things always to stay the same as they were during the days of pope kings, who dream of superficial change that preserves the status quo, and this is certainly not good for the church.”
“What do these traditionalists want to see happen? Perhaps a church militant pope who will declare the moral standards all should comply to and condemn all who do not agree.”
Pope Francis declares: “I cultivate a dream for the future: that our Church might be a meek, humble, servant church, with all the attributes of God: tender, close, and compassionate.” “We must simplify things as we look to the future, overcoming clericalism, which is the view of clerics as an elite with an attitude of moral superiority over and distant from the faithful. Clericalism is a plague, a disease! The Church is full of saints, but in some cases, it has become a corrupt church, precisely because clericalism is corrupt.”
Pope Francis warns against another tendency: “There were hints of an attempt to turn priests into something like functionaries, social workers, relevant politically but not spiritually.”
Regarding homosexuals, Pope Francis faces a dilemma: he does not want to turn anyone away from the church, but he doesn’t want to change the church’s teachings against homosexuality, and he recognizes how deeply damaging is the sin of pederasty for the souls of altar boys who are victims. He seeks dialogue with his fellow bishops on this problematic issue: he does not want to dictate moral policy but rather prefers that they do what they think is right.
Building Bridges to LGBT Community: Father Martin and Popes Benedict and Francis
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/the-church-the-catholic-catechism-and-the-lgbt-community/
https://youtu.be/F3BmZFYlqiU
Pope Francis declares: “I imagine a Mother Church, who embraces and welcomes everyone, even those who feel they are in the wrong and have been judged by us in the past,” including “homosexuals and transexuals.”
Pope Francis permits priests to bless these couples in “irregular situations.” Addressing his fellow bishops, he urges: “God loves everyone, especially sinners. If my brother bishops, according to their discernment, decide not to follow this path,” this need not lead to “schism, because the Church’s doctrine is not questioned.”
However, “this does not mean the Church is in favor of same-sex marriage: we do not have the power to change the sacraments created by the Lord. Marriage is one of the seven sacraments and provides only for the union of a man and a woman. Leave well enough alone.” However, for civil unions, the state should protect the rights of all couples, including homosexual couples.
Pope Francis concludes his autobiography: “To learn to live, we must all learn to love. Let us not forget this! This is the most important lesson we can learn, to love, since love conquers all. By loving we can pull down barriers, we can win battles, we can defeat indifference and hate, we can melt and transform hearts.” “A disinterested love can change the world and the course of history. How many things would have gone differently if love and prayer had motivated us, rather than the thirst for power. Remember, the world need prayer more and more!”[12]
The papacy of Pope Francis was more of a continuation than it was a break from the teachings of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, known as Cardinal Ratzinger before his elevation to the papacy. We also have a series of reflections on Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, on his memoirs, the Ratzinger Report that discussed the need for catechesis, which preceded the issuance of the Catholic Catechism, and whether he did enough to deal with the Catholic clergy sex scandals.
Milestones: Memoirs of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Future Pope Benedict XVI
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/milestones-memoirs-of-cardinal-joseph-ratzinger-future-pope-benedict-xvi/
https://youtu.be/tkfJq1zYtkU
Ratzinger Report, by Future Pope Benedict XVI, Preparing for Catholic Catechism
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/ratzinger-report-by-future-pope-benedict-xvi-preparing-for-catholic-catechism/
https://youtu.be/dTpbczGCAto
Building Bridges to LGBT Community: Father Martin and Popes Benedict and Francis
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/the-church-the-catholic-catechism-and-the-lgbt-community/
https://youtu.be/F3BmZFYlqiU
Was Pope Benedict XVI proactive in the pedophile priest sex scandal?
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/was-pope-benedict-xvi-proactive-in-the-pedophile-priest-sex-scandal/
https://youtu.be/mnLveEhokWU
DISCUSSION OF THE SOURCES
There is a second oral autobiography of Pope Francis that he dictated to another Italian journalist over a six-year period that had more reviews and attention that is about a hundred pages longer, titled Hope.
This autobiography was fascinating and readable. We encourage you to read this autobiography of Pope Francis yourself, we did not cover his reflections on his experience during the times of the moon landing, the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the economic crisis and the COVID crisis, and when the Argentine team won the World Cup.
[1] Pope Francis with Fabio Marchese Ragona, Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History (New York: HarperOne, 2025), Chapter I, The Outbreak of World War II, pp. 7-18.
[2] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter III, The Atom Bombs and the End of the War, pp. 33-43.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Arrupe
[4] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter II, The Extermination of the Jews, pp. 21-31.
[5] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter IV, The Cold War and McCarthyism, pp. 51-61.
[6] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter VII, The Videla Coup in Argentina, pp. 77-92.
[7] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter IV, The Cold War and McCarthyism, pp. 50-53.
[8] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter VII, The Videla Coup in Argentina, pp. 87-89.
[9] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter VIII, The Fall of the Berlin Wall, pp. 109-114.
[10] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter IX, The Birth of the European Union, pp. 124-137.
[11] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter XII, The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, pp. 173-191.
[12] Pope Francis, LIFE, My Story Through History Chapter XIV, A History Yet To Be Written, pp. 216-227.
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